Astrological Wheel

Maker Unidentified artist

MediumThangka: opaque watercolors and gold on cloth

Dimensions4 5/8 x 3 1/2 inches (11.7 x 8.9 cm)

CultureTibet

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase Fund

Terms

Paintings
Gouache
Animals
Apes
Astrology
Birds
Boars
Buddhism
Cats
Chickens
Dogs
Dragons
Flames
Goats
Horses
Mythological creatures
Mice
Monkeys
Oxen
Pigs
Rabbits
Rams
Religion
Reptiles
Roosters
Sheep
Snakes
Tigers
Cloth
Tibetan

Object number62.3350

Label CopyThis diagram shows Yama , Lord of Death, holding an astrological wheel within a ring of fire. Tibetans followed the same system for reckoning time as the Chinese did, that is based on twelve-year cycles within sixty-year cycles. An animal represents each year within a twelve-year cycle. Clcokwise from the top the astrological wheel shows all twelve zodiac animals: horse, ram, monkey, cock, dog, pig, rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon and snake. In the center a blue lotus blossom, each of whose petals contains one of the eight Daoist trigrams. Its center is divided into nine compartments, each housing a sanskrit number. Colors signify the five elements: green for wood, red for fire, yellow representing earth, white symbolizing metal and blue for water. Such diagrams would serve as aids to divination.

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